After the Disney parade passes by, the ropes and stanchions seem to magically disappear. It isn't magic. It's process. That moment is captured in this snap as two cast members follow directly behind the parade. One pulls the stanchions. The other winds the rope. They are gone in seconds ... along with the stanchions and ropes.

People think of Walt Disney World as a magical place. They admire the attractions, enjoy the rides and the seemingly seamless delivery of service ... even in this current covid environment. What they don’t often notice, because it is intentionally hidden, is the immense amount of process behind the scenes to make magic.

You'd think a creative like Walt Disney would have distained process. The opposite was true. He was obsessed with it. “I am convinced that there is a scientific approach to this business,” explained Walt, “and I think we shouldn’t give up until we have found out all we can about how to teach these young fellows the business.”

Animation was expensive. Process controlled costs. The trick was to codify process without stifling creativity. The storyboarding process—tacking sketches in sequence onto a cork board—was developed to script a story before costly animation began. All 1,200+ plus colors used in Disney's animations were catalogued. Even comedic gags were documented, compiling over 1.5 million jokes cataloged into 124 classifications.

It was natural then that Disneyland would be process-driven. Prior to construction, Disney spent a prodigious amount of time visiting other parks and amusements. He wasn’t just exploring attraction ideas, he was observing the processes people experienced: how crowds flowed, how queues worked, where facilities needed to be, what common service failures occurred and how they could be fixed and, even, how long people would carry trash before dropping it. Disneyland was then designed to solve those process issues.

Process improvement did not stop on opening day. Statistics were kept on attractions. Rides and experiences that people liked were maintained. Those that people attended but did not rave about were further developed until they ether succeeded or were closed and replaced.

Process helped Walt Disney improve everything, down to minutiae levels. Queue lines where altered to make them more efficient. Policies preventing food and beverage in ride queues were abandoned. Theater carpets were changed and curbs were removed to prevent guests from tripping. Trash cans were computerized to tell custodians when they needed to be emptied.

Disney process fanaticism [continues to this day](https://madmimi.com/s/5d77bd). It's no accident that Disney was the last company to open its Central Florida theme parks in the covid environment. The company worked tirelessly to address health safety issues and establish new processes before they would allow guests back in.

What about your organization? Do you notice that the same problems occur repeatedly? Do you often tell your customers that something they want is against policy? Do you hear people say, in response to a request or an idea, that you’ve always done it that way? Those situations likely indicate process issues.

Walt Disney once said, “Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.” Think of your processes as a ride. Do you ‘ride’ (IE-experience) them often? Are you constantly asking yourself how they can be improved? You should. The landscape is littered with companies who could not, or would not, address process issues. There are, unfortunately, far fewer who understand that the mundane is the true source of magic.